Set on continuing his father's legacy, Mbulelo Singapi has grown his business by 7% a year since 2010 through hard work and dedication.

Not a bad feat for a business that almost came to a standstill when his father, Peter, died six years ago.

Now the managing director of Golden Touch Manufacturing Jewellers in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, Singapi says he still remembers peeking over his father's shoulder as a child and watching him craft “the most exquisite” one-of-a-kind pieces of jewellery.

“He taught me all the tricks of the trade and instilled a great passion for jewellery making in me,” recalls Mbulelo.

He adds that the whole family designs jewellery. However, it was his father who started the business and ran it for about 18 years, but on a very small scale. And, despite not immediately taking up the family trade when he left school – he studied administration management at the former University of Port Elizabeth and worked at Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) – Mbulelo plans to build on his father's success.

“Whenever I had time over weekends and when I was on leave, I would help my father with the business,” he says.

In 2010, after his father's death crippled the business, Mbulelo and his uncle Dan, who has more than 28 years of experience as a jeweller, pumped new life into the firm.

“We basically started from scratch, but we started doing what we knew best, creating good quality, unique jewellery pieces. We also knew from the start we wanted to grow the business and eventually export some of our products.”

They also knew that they needed the right support and during the first year after taking over the business they approached the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) for help drafting a business plan.

A year later Seda, along with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, gave them funding to secure machinery worth over R300 000, as well as gas and soldering materials. Last year the two also joined a mentorship programme offered by Port Elizabeth-based business support organisation The Hope Factory.

They have now recently completed a business development course offered by the organisation, which has assisted them in keeping the financial side of the business in order.

In 2012 the partners decided to go after their dream of exporting their jewellery and through the support of the Department of Trade and Industry they travelled to several countries including China, England, Turkey and Japan for networking and business purposes.

On a trip to China they managed to secure an order for jewellery worth more than a R1 million, but the deal fell through as they could not secure the necessary bridging finance in time to deliver the order. Two years later, things are looking more promising.

“We are now on the brink of exporting our products. Negotiations are at a very sensitive stage at the moment, but what I can say is that it is very close to becoming a reality.”

The company's turnover is currently at about R1.5 million a year and the company employs four people. The two have also launched a brand new jewellery range this year.